Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins-Reid

Let me tell you what the real brilliance of this book is - the authenticity of it all. After a few pages I found myself questioning whether it was fictional. Halfway through the story I was avidly googling The Six, Daisy Jones and both of the Dunne brothers. No result. Double-check. Nope, definitely says it is a fictional story. Kudos to the author for creating not only an authentic story, but also such convincing dialogue and characters.

The reader can feel the passion, the self-destruction and flighty confusion of the era, which in turn is reflected in the characters. The era of free love, lots of drugs and plenty of rock n' roll. Nobody embodies the life quite like the lead singer of The Six, Billy Dunne.

When he reaches breaking point the relationship between Billy and his future wife Camila is what keeps him from running straight off a cliff. He gets his act together and then Daisy Jones steps into his life.

Daisy is a free spirit who wants to make her mark in the world of music, but on her terms and not on those of some man in charge of her. She is very much the feminine version of Billy. They have the same need to control their environment, to create their own music and to be adored by an army of fans.

This is the story of how Daisy Jones and The Six came to be and at the same time how it all ended abruptly in the midst of a successful tour. The story is told via a series of interviews with the responses to each event or question answered in mixed sequence by the band members, Daisy, family and managers.

It's as if the reader is thrust into rooms where the entire cast of characters participate in front of each other, but are often simultaneously unaware of what the other is saying. Which means you get different accounts of the same situation as each individual remembers it. In essence it's a kind of 4D holographic literary experience - of memories, opinions and emotional responses. It is absolutely fascinating.

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Publisher: Random House Uk, Cornerstone Digital (ecopy), Hutchinson (Hardcover) pub date 7 March 2019
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